May 15, local time, more than 10 cities in Washington, New York, Los Angeles, Cleveland, Sacramento and Houston held a protest rally called “Unite against Hate” to oppose the surge in violent crimes and hate crimes against Asian Americans in the United States and to call for ethnic equality.
The rally, sponsored by the Asia-Pacific Public Affairs Association, called for more people to speak out against hateful behavior against Asians and to complain about the suffering of Asians caused by racial discrimination and violence in the United States.
At 12 o’clock on the 15th, hundreds of people gathered at the California State Capitol in Sacramento, California, to call for an end to racial discrimination, including through speeches. California’s lieutenant governor, along with many local officials and civil rights activists, spoke at the rally, calling on the community to pay attention to discrimination and violence against Asian communities.
In Cleveland, Ohio, on the same afternoon, government officials, community representatives and other protesters gathered in Cleveland’s Public Square, carrying signs that read “Hate is a virus” and “Stop all racial discrimination” and whistled yellow. Event organizers say the yellow whistle is a symbol of self-preservation and hope that the public will speak out against hate crimes against Asians to prevent more victims.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott also spoke at an anti-Asian rally in Shugland on the same day to support the Asian community. At the rally, Mr Abbott condemned the surge in violent hatred among Asians in the US and called on all to unite in the fight against racial discrimination. Mr Abbott said Texas would not tolerate any racial hatred or inequality.
According to the latest statistics released by Stop AAPI Hate, a U.S. nonprofit that works against discrimination against Asian-Americans, there were 6,603 hate crimes against Asian Americans in the U.S. between March 19, 2020 and March 31, 2021, compared with 3,795 in the same period the year before, a 54 percent increase and more than double the number of cases in the past year.
